SERMON - Christmas Day – Rev. Peter Sulzle The Word Became Flesh 1. It’s a Miracle 2. It’s a Blessing 3. It’s Overwhelming John 1:1-5,14 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4 In him was life, and that life was the light of men. 5 The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it. 14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth Do you remember how exciting it was as a child to walk into the living room on Christmas morning? There were so many gifts around that tree that you just didn’t know where to start. Should you start with little ones or big ones, one at a time or all at once? On this Christmas morning, we’ve come here to open one single gift. It is the gift of our Savior. But where do we start? There are so many facets to this amazing story. Should we begin with the angels and sing Glory to God in the Highest? Should we run with the shepherds to see this Savior and spread the word? Should we just sit for a moment with Mary and treasure all these things in our hearts? In his gospel, John has another strategy. He doesn’t say a word about angels, shepherds, or Mary like St. Luke does. He doesn’t cite Old Testament prophecies like Matthew. John introduces his book with the most simple description of what happened at Christmas. It’s as simple as this – The Word Became Flesh. It’s a miracle. It’s a blessing. It’s overwhelming. John tells us who this Word is. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. In a few words John introduces us to the pre-incarnate Word of God. This Word was there before creation and a separate person from the Father. This Word of God was also the true God, one with the Father. This is the second person of the Trinity, the Son of God, Jesus Christ. This Word performed a miracle. He became flesh. It’s almost contradictory. How can God be flesh? Jesus said himself, “God is Spirit.” Yet John says “The Word became flesh.” At a point in time, when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, conceived of the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary. The eternal Son of God has a birthday. But that doesn’t mean he gave up being God. He was still God on this earth. He simply gave up use of his power. Think about it this way. If a rich man becomes a beggar that doesn’t mean he isn’t a man any more. It means his position changes. God became a man in Jesus. His position changed from the riches of heaven to this poor earth. But he remained true God and became true man. There’s more to this miracle. John doesn’t say he became a man. While that is true, John used the word flesh. It’s a word that describes the weakness of human beings. John isn’t saying Jesus became a sinner. Rather, Jesus took on all the weakness of the human race. You can see that in the Christ child. He created and sustains the world with his mighty hand. Yet here in the manger, he is so weak that he needs to rely on his mother Mary for food, shelter, and clothing. It’s easy enough to read, “The Word became flesh,” but we can’t possible comprehend this miracle. No amount of investigation will ever uncover how this can be true. But maybe that’s the point. Maybe the point isn’t to understand, but just to unwrap this gift as a miracle. Maybe that’s why God does things for us that we can’t understand – so we will simply watch and wonder at his great love. The point is not to understand how God works, but believe that he does work – and that he works on our behalf like he did when the Word became flesh. Faith simply hears about this miracle and admires it. Faith also sees the great blessing in it. Here is that blessing of this Christmas gift, Word made flesh: In him was life, and that life was the light of men. Jesus is the light that gives life. He created light on the first day of creation. He created life shortly after. But there’s more. Jesus gives life to the dead and light to those in darkness. Death and darkness came shortly after creation. When God created Adam and Eve, they were without sin. But then they disobeyed God. They sinned. Then all they had was spiritual ignorance, sadness, and imperfection. They received the consequence - death. We are born in that same condition. We inherited a sinful nature from our parents. We possessed the darkness of unbelief and the looming future of death. John tells us there was nothing we could change. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it. We couldn’t come into the light of faith on our own. We couldn’t attain or grasp eternal life by ourselves. We were like a plant that was taken away from that south window where it got a lot of sun and put in a dark room left to die. We needed an outside source to intervene and give light and life. In the Word was life, and that life was the light of men. So the Word came in the flesh. Jesus came with a physical life that would eventually be taken away on a cross. But in his sacrificial life we find our life. Now his Word comes into our hearts with light of faith and spiritual life. What a blessing for us! This Christmas message isn’t just a cute story. Just like the verdict from the judge and the command from the captain carry power, so the Word has power to give us life. The Word made flesh has changed us. We were impure. Now we are perfect in God’s sight. We were spiritually ignorant. Now we have spiritual knowledge. We were doomed to death. Now we have the light of life - all because the Word became flesh. That’s the blessing of Christmas. When we ponder these blessings, what is our reaction? I don’t know about you, but I’m overwhelmed. Kinda like Christmas morning. When you were a child, do you remember walking in the living room and seeing all those presents? It was an overwhelming pile of presents. The gift of the Word made flesh fills us with an overwhelming wonder. Seeing what he brings is even more overwhelming. He came from the Father full of grace and truth. Jesus didn’t have to come. We didn’t deserve to have him come. But his undeserved love moved him to take action to save us. Jesus came in truth. He preached the truth. Our salvation is founded on that truth. The Word came in grace and truth. The more we learn to appreciate that, the more overwhelming it is. When we were young, we enjoyed Christmas. Since we could rip paper, we appreciated the excitement of every gift. But as children, I don’t think we appreciated how valuable those gifts were until we knew how much they cost. It is the thought that counts and some of the best gifts aren’t purchased in stores, but if we knew what our parents sacrificed to buy gifts, that would make an impression. Now think of the sacrifice of our Savior. Before his birth, Jesus reigned in heaven with angels to serve him. He gave that up to dwell among us. He wanted to be present with us, with sinners, who were born as God’s enemies, sinners who either ignore what God says or take what he says for granted. Jesus knew the kind of evil people he’d pitch his earthly tent next to. But he wanted to be with us – more than that – he wanted to be one of us. And it cost him dearly. He knew hunger and poverty. He knew temptation. He knew pain and suffering. He knew loneliness and rejection. He even knew the consequence of your sin when he suffered their punishment. The king of heaven suffered hell. That was his sacrifice to save you. Is that message appreciated? Does it overwhelm you? Or is it like that Christmas gift that gets set aside and forgotten? When that happens, what do you think Jesus thinks of you? If you’re like me, you think Jesus must be pretty disappointed. We haven’t trusted him or appreciated his work. We don’t deserve his care and aren’t even sure if he cares much for us any more. But that’s not the feeling we ought to have at Christmas. That’s not how Jesus looks at us. In eternity Jesus knew you and determined that when the time had fully come he would become flesh and live among humans to die for you. It turns out that he has loved you as long as he’s known you. And at the first Christmas, he wrapped a gift under your tree and called it your salvation. We can’t help feeling overwhelmed with gratitude and joy at the love of our Savior. So what should we do with this overwhelming Christmas message? Perhaps we will want to share it with others, like the shepherds who told everyone what they had seen and heard. Perhaps this overwhelming message will prompt us to live our lives in gratitude to God according to the Word. Perhaps we will give our very best gifts to him, like the wise men who came to worship. Perhaps we will treasure all of these things in our hearts like Mary so that our faith will grow. Yes, we absolutely do all those things. But before you do all of that, just sit a moment and marvel at this overwhelming wonder before you. The Word became flesh. Before you open the last of your gifts; before you take down the decorations or head back to your regular life. Stop for a few moments and marvel. The Word became flesh. It’s a miracle. It’s a blessing. It’s overwhelming. He did it all for you. Amen.
Posted on: Tue, 30 Dec 2014 14:00:01 +0000
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